Audio Review:
The audio review for this product is available on Episode 590 of the podcast at 38:58.

As the name suggests, the Plantronics RIG 4VR headphones are designed specifically for PlayStation VR. That doesn’t mean they won’t work with anything else, but they were built with Sony’s reality altering headset in mind. The headphones were released alongside PlayStation VR back in late 2016 and when we saw Plantronics at E3 this past year, we asked for a unit to try out.

Designed for the style-conscious, the white and black color scheme mimics the PlayStation VR headset to make the pair look like a cohesive whole as it sits comfortably over the VR headset.

Plugging in can be done in one of two ways. The headphones are designed with a short cord coming off the headphones with a male jack and you can then choose either a short cord to plug into the VR headset, or a long cord to plug into a controller, phone, tablet, or whatever.

The design does help keep the excess cabling to a minimum when using VR, which is always welcome, but it does necessitate care with the extra cables. It’s really easy to lose track of the unconnected cable, especially if you’re using the headphones in multiple locations around the house or if you have kids. Even if you don’t, it’s easy to forget where you may have placed it.

While I appreciate the design decisions behind the two lengths of cable, I would have liked some type of elegant solution to store the extra cable, perhaps even within the headset itself somewhere. Maybe that’s an idea for the next iteration of the RIG 4VR headphones.

As for comfort, the headset can be resized by adjusting the earcup positioning with three different notches. It’s a bit limiting but then again, these aren’t $300 headphones. Either way, I was able to click into a good position that provided a nice fit.

The molded plastic feels pretty solid, certainly not cheap. It’s a bit thinner though to keep the weight down, so bending it hard in the wrong direction could potentially break it. But why would you even do that?

There’s a fabric headband stretched across the center which provides a good fit and allows your head to stay separated from the hard plastic above. Overall it’s a nice design.

The earcups are an oval shape and just a bit narrow for my tastes. I don’t have big ears by any stretch of the imagination, but mine barely fit within the space given. The foam itself is quite soft and comfortable, even with glasses on, and I was able to use these for a full eight hours of gaming with no real problems.

In a nod to both comfort and the particulars of gaming with a VR headset on, the venting feature of the earcups will allow you to wear the headphones for long stretches while still being able to hear people around you.

These are not noise cancelling headphones, but you can still hear people when they need to talk to you and you’re immersed in another world. They do cut out enough of the ambient noise to allow you to focus on whatever you’re listening to.

The microphone arm is removable which is handy when VR is connected though not necessary since the PS VR’s built-in headset mic always supersedes any plugged in microphone.

It’s nice to have the option but I did run into a strange interference issue when I removed the microphone and plugged the headphones into my iPhone in the form of a click every two seconds or so. I eventually figured out that the piece the microphone plugs into needs to be flipped down, as if it’s still plugged in and being used.

The noise-cancelling boom mic sounded really good in our Warface sessions on the PS4 and it’s designed to mute when you flip it up which is easy and convenient when gaming.

The 40mm drivers deliver excellent sound quality while the bass is backed up with low frequency resonators. The overall sound quality is great though certainly not earth-shattering. I was easily able to discern sounds from all directions in the hectic battles of Warface and it really worked great across a number of games and genres.

Music is crystal clear and doesn’t distort at higher volumes. It’s solid enough to give you a pretty good bang for your buck, working well in all situations.

Conclusion:
At $69.99 the Plantronics RIG 4VR headphones provide a nice, comfortable fit with a bit of style. The sound is good and the mic is great making this a really good overall package. My only real issue is with the (easy to lose) multiple cables. In the end, I feel that these headphones are certainly worth the asking price, even if you don’t own PlayStation VR.

Josh has been gaming since 1977 starting with the Atari 2600.
He currently owns 26 different consoles and 6 different handhelds (all hooked up and in working condition) including all consoles from the current generation.

Josh is currently the US PR & Marketing Manager for Fountain Digital Labs and has recused himself from any involvement on PS Nation arising from posting or editing any news or reviews stemming from FDL.